Summer Beach Project: Orientation

Yesterday was the last day of the orientation period at Summer Beach Project here in Panama City Beach. I left from Charleston with Stephen King, the CofC Campus Outreach campus director, at about 9 Eastern Time on Monday morning. We were extremely lucky because there was absolutely no traffic on I-95 or any of the other highways and we got to Panama City Beach around 5:45 Eastern, 4:45 p.m. Central Time.

There are 80-something Coastal Carolina. I have two roommates right now and am going to be getting a third next week. My roommates are TJ Higgins, a sophomore at Charleston Southern, and Shawn Ferguson, a junior at CofC. TJ is a kicker on the CSU and Shawn is on the CofC soccer team, so I've known for a while. My room leader's name is John Psomas, a junior at The Citadel. He's also from a town about 15 minutes away from Due West.

The job that I'm going to have this summer is working at Back Yard Burgers. I'm going to be working there with John and 2 other guys from down the hall. I think it's going to be awesome!

Our overall theme for Project is "Stand Firm" and the theme verse is 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (NIV)

I really, really like this theme verse. I think it's not only important to stand firm in our faith as Christians, but also to stand firm in all decisions we make in life.

I know the Lord is going to do great things this summer and I can't wait to find out what they are!!

And to everybody back home, don't worry. I'm wearing tons of sunscreen haha!

Reggie

The view from my room!!

The Top 10 "Smallville" Episodes...EVER

Sorry for the delay in this blog, Blogspot has been down for maintenance for the past three days. 

WARNING!! If you haven't watched "Smallville" in a while there are some major SPOILERS.

In honor of the "Smallville" SERIES FINALE on May 13th, that's right, "Smallville" is actually still on the air, I'm making a list of my top 10 favorite episodes. Over 10 seasons, the series has had some incredible highs and some nauseating lows (cough...the whole Lana marrying Lex arc..cough). Even in lackluster seasons, there was always an episode or two that captured the magic of when it was the WB's star attraction.

Here's my Top 10 episodes: 

Clark Kent and Ryan James

Honorable Mentions: Stray (1x16)  and Ryan (2x08) - I won't go into much detail about "Stray" and "Ryan," but they both involve the character of Ryan James, a young metahuman who is telepathic and is actually the first person outside the Kent family to find out about Clark's secret. They were two genuinely good episodes and I wish Ryan could've been in more episodes! 

10. Run (4x05) - Meet Smallville's version of the Flash!

This episode introduced Bart Allen, Wally West, and Barry Allen to the Smallville universe. Okay, not really. Wally and Barry are just fake ids, along with Jay Garrick, that Bart uses. While in the comics, Barry Allen is really the first Flash that Superman meets, that honor goes to Bart, Barry's grandson. This episode was great because it's the first time that we really see Clark humbled by the fact that there is someone out there who can move faster than he can. Also, the race at the end between Clark and Bart was a great reference the races in the comics between Superman and Flash. Rascal Flatt's "Feels Like Today" played over the last sequence and upped the bromance factor. It was perfectly cheesy.

The Fortress of Solitude

9. Arrival (5x01) - The Fortress of Solitude!

The season 5 premiere gave the show a new opening sequence, brought one of the most epic moments inSmallville history: the creation of the Fortress of Solitude and Smallville's version of Brainiac. Clark finally learns that Chloe knows his secret and The special effects are what make this episode, along with the music, and the set design of the Fortress awesome!

8. Shattered (3x08) - Michael Rosenbaum is a freaking beast!

In a nutshell, "Shattered" involves Lex Luthor going insane. It's a mystery the way the story is constructed though. First, it seems like he's being set up by his father, but then as the episode goes on, you begin to think that he actually is going crazy. He's had spectacular performances in "Memoria" (3x19), "Onyx" (4x17), "Lexmas" (5x09) and "Zod" (6x01), just to name a few...I can't get over how PHENOMENAL Michael Rosenbaum's performance is. The ending scene, with "Hurt" by Johnny Cash playing has no lines, but the pure emotion makes it one of the best scenes and episodes of Smallville.

Man's Best Friend

They say dog is man's best friend. This entry is 100% proof of that statement.

My dog Spot died in his sleep on April 24, 2011, Easter Sunday. They say all dogs go to Heaven; he couldn't have picked a better day! He had his 15th birthday on March 23rd. And for those who are wondering, Spot was a lab/coonhound mix. His mom was a chocolate lab and I'm not exactly sure the exact breed of hound the father was.

I got Spot at the end of first grade, right before summer. I know Spot isn't the most original name for a dog, but give me a break, I was 6. I think it was actually pretty creative on my part. I considered Socks because of his four white paws, Ace because it was the name of my grandparents' dog when I was little and Buddy because that's what I called him half the time anyway, but I chose Spot because right in the middle of his forehead was a white spot.

I don't really have that many memories of our first summer together, but the memories I have will last a lifetime. The first memory I have of Spot is one in the days after he was born. (He and the rest of his brothers and sisters were born next door to our neighbor's dog.) I think there were 13 puppies in the litter, but I'm honestly not sure. What I am sure of though is that Spot was the second puppy I picked up. He snuggled right into my hands and then bit my finger. Somehow, I knew at that moment, Spot was going to be my dog.

The next memory I have of Spot was during our first summer together. I'm not sure how far into the summer it was, but it was while he was still with the rest of the litter. We were playing in the side yard and I was sitting on top of a small rock wall about 2-3 feet high. I threw an old ball or some sort of toy for him to chase, but one of his brothers got to it first. Spot never really was the confrontational type. He just turned around and looked at me and started to sprint. Once he got close, he jumped right into my outstretched arms. I hadn't moved. This puppy jumped 2 and a half feet into the air!  After that, he just looked at me. Tongue out and little tail wagging, he just looked up at me, happy and curious with his brown eyes. We were the only things that mattered to each other at that moment.

21 Realizations of a college junior

21. It’s amazing the things you can think of when you can't fall asleep at night...like this list.

20. Was learning cursive really necessary?

19. Sadly, bad decisions make good stories.

18. I hate leaving my apartment confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day.

17. We should just ignore whatever comes after DVD and Blu-Ray. I can’t afford to restart my movie collection.

16. I think it’s about time the freezer gets its own light. It deserves one.

15. Somebody needs to invent a font solely for sarcasm.

14. Is it just me, or are high school kids getting dumber and dumber every year?

13. I’d rather attempt to carry 10 overloaded grocery bags in each hand than take multiple trips to bring in the groceries.

12. I love the sense of camaraderie between strangers when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front.

11. I get scared every time when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to the 20 page research paper I swear I didn’t make any changes to.

Welcome to The Randomness!

I honestly never thought that I would have a blog. I had a journal from like 2nd - 3rd grade and only wrote it in a few times. That's originally what I thought blogs were, an online journal where you spit out your feelings so everybody could read them. If that's the type of blog you're looking for, I'm sorry to disappoint you. 

The reason I started Reggie's Randomness is because I'm a Communication major in college and I've learned that the Internet is where people probably get most of their news and information. Heck, President Obama got elected partly because of an amazing online campaign! (By the way, this is definitely not a launching point for my bid for office haha)

Anyway, I'm going to try and update this blog, or as I like to call it: The Randomness, at least once or twice a week. All my friends know how random in real life and my future entries will definitely be proof of that!

Thanks for reading everybody! Follow this blog if you'd like to and follow me on Twitter at @reggiep08

Thanks again,

Reggie

P.S. -  Any suggestions on catchphrases I should use to open and close The Randomness? Let me know!

Things to come:

I've been a fan of "Smallville" since I started watching it back in 2001. As comes to the end of its 10 season run on Friday, May 13, at 8 p.m. on the CW, I'm going to be posting my Top 10 favorite/best episodes of the series. So check back soon! 

And yes, I do realize that the finale is on Friday the 13th. I'm not normally superstitious, maybe just a littlestitious, but I'm not taking any chances this May, I'm not leaving the house!